Mallows Bay

Commercial watermen who fish the Potomac River were shocked and angry last week when the Maryland-Virginia authority that regulates them did nothing about federal plans for a marine sanctuary at Mallows Bay.

The Potomac River Fisheries Commission could not agree on limits to the sanctuary, which watermen fear could extend to where they set nets for blue catfish, tong for oysters and trap crabs.

Back in 2014, Maryland asked NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to make Mallows Bay and its famed ghost ships a marine sanctuary. And that has raised the hackles of some watermen from both sides of the Potomac.